Shi'ite Muslims gather ahead of Ashura, the holiest day on the Shi'ite Muslim calendar, in Najaf, Iraq on July 3, 2025. Large torches known as masha'al are lit each night during the first ten days of Muharram as part of traditional Shi'ite mourning rituals. (Photo by Alaa al-Marjani/Reuters)





Shi'ite pilgrims pray gather between the Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas shrines ahead of Ashura, the holiest day on the Shi'ite Muslim calendar, in the holy city of Kerbala, Iraq, on July 5, 2025. (Photo by Alaa al-Marjani/Reuters)





Shi'ite Muslim volunteers, dressed as ancient warriors, re-enact a scene from the 7th-century Battle of Karbala as part of a religious ritual to commemorate Ashura, the holiest day on the Shi'ite Muslim calendar, in Baghdad, Iraq, on July 6, 2025. (Photo by Ahmed Saad/Reuters)





Shiite worshippers visit the holy shrine of Imam Husseinon, during “Muharram”, a period of mourning for Shiites in Karbala, Iraq, Friday, July 25, 2025. (Phoot by Hadi Mizban/AP Photo)





A man cools his face with water mist from sprinklers during a heatwave in Baghdad, Iraq on July 28, 2025. (Photo by Ahmed Saad/Reuters)





A drone view shows oil tankers loading crude oil at the Basra Oil Terminal in Iraqi territorial waters, off the coast of Basra, Iraq, on August 5, 2025. (Photo by Mohammed Aty/Reuters)





An Iraqi navy marine stands guard while on duty aboard a vessel at sea in the Gulf south of the Faw peninsula on August 5, 2025. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)





Shiite Muslim devotees reach to receive a blessing from the tomb of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, at the Imam's shrine in Iraq's central holy city of Karbala on August 14, 2025, on the even of the Arbaeen religious festival commemorating his seventh century killing. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)





This aerial view shows a traditional boat stranded in a dried-up marsh in the drought-striken Chibayish marshes in Iraq's southern Dhi Qar province on August 19, 2025. (Photo by Asaad Niazi/AFP Photo)





A woman looks on as Iraqi nationals prepare to leave the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp in Syria's northeastern al-Hasakah governorate, ahead of their return to Iraq on August 28, 2025. More than 800 Iraqi nationals left northeast Syria's Al-Hol camp on August 28, an official told AFP, the latest batch to quit the notorious Kurdish-administered camp that also hosts suspected relatives of Islamic State group jihadists. (Photo by Delil Souleiman/AFP Photo)





Baghdad Ballet Academy students prepare to perform “Alice in Wonderland” at Al-Rashid Theater in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, August 29, 2025. (Photo by Hadi Mizban/AP Photo)





Young dancers perform in a ballet adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland” during the Baghdad Ballet Academy's annual gala at Rasheed Theatre in Baghdad on August 29, 2025. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)





A fisherman sits in his boat near swathes of water hyacinth, a water-consuming invasive bloom, in Nasiriyah, Iraq, on Tuesday, September 9, 2025. Iraq's Euphrates River is running at historically low levels as the drought-stricken country faces its worst water scarcity in living memory. (Photo by Asaad Niazi/AFP Photo)





Mahmoud Shaker, a beekeeper and professor at the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Basra, works at his apiary, as worsening water shortages and rising salinity in the Shatt al-Arab threaten bees and cut honey production, in Basra, Iraq, on September 13, 2025. (Photo by Mohammed Aty/Reuters)





People visit the ancient city of Babylon, in Babylon, Iraq, 24 October 2025 (issued 25 October 2025). Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, accompanied by a Swiss delegation, is paying official visits to Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait from 22 to 25 October 2025. (Photo by Anthony Anex/EPA)





A man walks past banners placed infront of war damaged building depicting political candidates from rival blocs, competing for a seat in the Iraqi Council of Representatives, days before the Parliamentary elections, in Old Mosul, northern Iraq, on October 28, 2025. Parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in Iraq on 11 November 2025, which will determine the 329 members of Iraq's Council of Representatives, who are responsible for electing the country's president and approving the appointment of the prime minister. (Photo by Zaid Al-Obeidi/AFP Photo)





A firefighter looks on as smoke and fire billows at the Zubair oil field in in southern Iraq on October 26, 2025. One person was killed and at least nine others were injured on October 26 in a fire caused by a gas leak in one of the systems at an oil field in southern Iraq, according to an initial toll announced by the authorities. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)





A drone view shows the aftermath of an oil pipeline fire at Zubair oilfield in Basra, Iraq, on October 28, 2025. (Photo by Essam Al-Sudani/Reuters)





Iraqi Kurds wave flags as they attend an electoral campaign rally for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) at the Franso Hariri Stadium in Arbil on November 7, 2025 ahead of the country's parliamentary elections. Iraq will hold parliamentary elections on November 11. At least 25 percent of parliamentary seats must go to women, according to the quota system that also reserves nine seats for minorities. More than 7,700 candidates, nearly a third of whom are women, are running for election in the country of around 46 million people. (Photo by Safin Hamid/AFP Photo)